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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1,

H. OBBRLAEUTER. AUTOMATIC BALL COUPLING FOR RAILWAY WAGONS.

No. 571,682. Patented Nov. 17, 1896.

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(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

H. OBBRLAEUTER. v AUTOMATIC BALL COUPLING FOR RAILWAY WAGONS. No. 571,682. Patented Nov. 17, 1896.

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lIUGO OBERLAEUTER, OF LEIPSIC, HERMANY.

AUTOMATIC BALL-COUPLING FOR RAlLWAY-WAGONS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 571,682, dated November 17, 1896.

Application filed February 24, 1896. Serial No. 580,563. (No model.) Patented in Belgium December 16, 1895,1Q'0. 118,365; in Hrngary December 23,1895, No. 5,012 in Austria January 8, 1896, No. 46/43, and in Canada A ril 1, 1896,110. 51,827.

To (I/ZZ whom it NHL-U concern/.-

Be it known that I, Iluoo ()BERLAEUTER, merchant, of 2 Schlossgasse, Leipsic, in the Kingdom of Saxony, German Empire, have invented new and useful Improvements in Automatic Ball Couplings for Railway- Wagons, (which have been patented in Austria, No. 40/43, dated January 8, 1896; in Hungary, No. 5,012, dated December 28, 1895 5 in Belgium, No. 118,865, dated December 16, 1895, and in Canada, No. 51,827, dated April 1, 1896,) of which the following is a specification.

The subject of the present invention is a ballcoupling for railway-wagons, by means of which the single wagons can be automatically coupled and detached with the aid of a hand-lever without exposing the workman to danger by necessitating his goingbetween the wagons to effect the coupling or uncoupling.

The method of coupling is shown in the following diagram:

Figure 1 is an application of the coupling to a wagon, partly in section and partly in plan. Fig. 2 is a detail of the cheeks seen from inside; Fig. 3, a detail of the tongue and method of attachment; Fig. 4., a detail of the checks with uncoupling contrivance; Fig. 5, the slide. Fig. 6 shows how the coupling is effected on two single wagons.

'lhecoupling consists of the two blocks a, connected with each other by means of the prism h and screwed onto the buffer-beam c, and the tongue (I. The tongue is revoluble upon the bolt 6-, resting in the casting f, thus allowing of it to turn when rounding curves. The piecef is attached to the plate 9 by means of screws, the latter being in its turn con-.

nectcd with the drawing-rod 7i, underneath the wagon.

In order, in rounding curves, to give the rod sufficient play, its free end is made fast to a spring underneath the wagon. This arrangement permits equally of an extension as well as contraction, movements which are dependent upon the character of the curves. In

order to insure the tongue (Z bcin g constantly directed forward in coupling, a state of t] rings which would be impossible owing to the inovability of the tongue upon the bolte, a strong spring g, resting partly in the tongue and partly in the piece f, is provided.

This directs the tongue always forward. Further, in order to insure the tongue entering between the checks, the fore part of the former is sharply rounded off, together with the two opposite faces of the cheeks.

The freely-moving coupling medium, the balls 7L, lie in the slot i of the cheeks a. In coupling, the balls protrude from the slot to the extent of one-third of their diameter and lie within the corresponding groove of the tongue. The slot itself is so formed, Figs. 1 and 2, that in coupling the balls are pushed backward by the tongue and very slowly taken up by the cheeks, allowing of the ton gue to glide smoothly past the balls. The slots are constructed obliquely to allow of the balls falling back rapidly into place immediately the grooves of the tongue come into position, Fig. 2. As soon as the pressure of the buffer-springs comes upon the two wagons the halls lay themselves in the groove of the tongue to the extent of one-third of their diameter, allowing of the wagons being firmly coupled together. The plates 1 are screwed onto the checks to prevent the balls falling out, Figs. 1 and 2.

Uncoupling is eifected by means of the hand-lever m, the coggcd wheels n of the rack 0, provided with the guiding-slots p and q and guided between the lists 11 and s, and the slide 25, Fig. l. Each check a has such a contrivance. The slide itself is easily movable and receives its direction in the checks. The rack is moved by means of the slot q and attached to a, the cogged wheels n lying upon. a shaft situated underneath the check a, Figs. 2 and in. The slide 1 Fig. 5,11as a hollowing a of the same size as the ball and a small roller 1 on the opposite side, the roller being guided in the slot 11 of the rack. On the lever beingturned to the right the rack is moved to the left. As the little roller '0 must glide along the slot q the slide '6 is raised so high as to allow of the ball lying in its hollowing; or it is to be kept as low as the ball in gripping into the groove 7. of the tongue during coupling. As both slides ol'ihc checks (I, are simultaneously acted upon by the handlcver the uncoupling is thus effected, and the wagon can be talrcn out or pushed forward. llereupon the lever in is turned back, so that the coupling of the approaching wagon can take place automatically.

vduced by means of this into the slot ii.

theigthe uncoupling arrangement can'be'so the load falls.

It should be borne in mind that theguide-s slot of the slide t'is to be so constructed in the cheeksthat the ball can be very easily intro- Fur arranged that it can .be worked from one side of the wagon equally well as from the other.

The application of theooupling should so take place,as shown in Fig. (5, that in. standing at .the front or rear side of thewagons the checksare eithcrto fasten to the right and the tongue to the left or vice versa. 7 A pairof cheeks and a tongue are attached toeach wagon. The construction of the cheeks, particularly in re lation to their height, Figs. 2 and 4, is. dependent uponthe weight of the wagon freight, t; 6., the extent of the pressure upon the. wagon springs where themaxirnum weight of The elevation of the tongue is likewise dependent upon the ohliqueness of theslot i, Fig. 2.

In order to avoid a breaking of the buffer or buffer-flange in cases where the wagons are unequally loaded, for instance,- where an empty one is coupled with one fully loaded,

the buffer-springs y are attached direct to the flanges, while the other end rests against the huitei bloch'Fig. 1.. i In this manner the pos sibility' of a breaking of the flanges is'essem.

tially reduced.

Ilaving now described my invention, what in suehslotsnnd with a tongue being rev oluble upon a bolt and resting in a castingfastener to the other wagon; as and for the purpose set forth.

2; In an automaticball-soupling for raih way-wagonsthe combination of two blocks or cheeks connected with each other by means of a prism, screwed onto the buffer-beam and provided with two slots, with two balls being .slidable in these slots, and with two plates be- 'ing screwed onto the cheeks and with two movable slides being each provided with a hol lowing andreceiving its direction in the cheeks, and with an uncoupling device consistin g of a hand-lever, two cogged wheels and two racks provided with guiding slets; as and for the purpose set forth.

In an automatic hall-coupling tori-ailway-wagonsthe combination of a' tongue'heing provided with two grooves and revoluhle. upon a bolt, with a casting being attached to :a plate by means-of screws connected with a drawing i'od underneath the wagon, and with a'strong'spring resting partly in the said" tongue andpartlyin thesaid casting; as and for the purpose set forth wt. In an automatichall-couplingfor rail+ way-wagons the combination of a slideloeing provided with a hollowing of. the same size as the hall employed with a small roller guided in a slot of the raclrof the uncoupling device:

as and for the'purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribin g witnesses."

HUGO OBERLAEUTER.

\Vitnesses ZDUARD LOEPER, RUDOLPH FRIOKE. 

